


give me a reason to scream at you instead of a reason to scream your name

by ContrEeri



Category: Naruto
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Relationship Problems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-25 05:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17718644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ContrEeri/pseuds/ContrEeri
Summary: They never fight.





	give me a reason to scream at you instead of a reason to scream your name

**Author's Note:**

> i need to be cleaning my apartment and working on my zine pieces--which I'm gonna do!!--i just had to fill this prompt because inspiration hit hard. Prompt: "That's an order. Obey" Anyway, I'm on a roll with these ficclets! enjoy!

Gaara doesn’t give Lee orders. He makes statements and he makes requests, but they are always delivered in the flat monotone he has spoken with for most of his life and they always _sound_ like orders. 

He worries, sometimes, that no matter how much Lee loves him and no matter how much he loves Lee in return, there will always be a wedge between them; a small chasm growing larger and wider with every day that he is the Kazekage. He worries that Lee will never argue with him, never openly disagree with him, never so much as yell at him because of his position. 

Lee–always so proprietary; always so kind; always so formal. 

It had taken years of friendship for Lee to even reach beyond ‘Kazekage-sama’ and touch upon Gaara’s name. It had taken even longer for Lee to admit his feelings. 

Their love is still new, still a budding blossom struggling to thrive outside of its natural climate. Gaara worried that either one of them would over water it, that Lee wouldn’t put enough acid in the soil for fear of overstepping some arbitrary boundaries that Gaara had never cared for, that Gaara himself would prune too far back and they’d need to start all over, that one day they’d go to repot it only to find the roots rotting. 

Temari says that disagreement is a normal, healthy part of any relationship. 

Lee doesn’t seem to understand this. 

When he does not agree with Gaara, he can always tell. Lee’s jaw goes tight, his hands ball into fists, and he swallows down every word contrary to what Gaara has said. Gaara hates it. 

But he’s more scared of broaching the subject, more scared of the fights that might come to trample this small sapling growing between them. 

Fighting is unavoidable though. 

It’s their life’s blood, it’s what they were trained for, what Gaara had been born for, what Lee had worked his whole life for. 

Lee’s first truly dangerous mission since their love had taken root is the straw that breaks the camels back for Gaara. 

“You won’t open the eighth gate,” he tells Lee. Demands.

Lee’s jaw works. He swallows down every word of dissent and doesn’t look at Gaara. 

“Did you hear me?” Gaara isn’t asking. Lee heard him. 

“I did,” he says, his voice hard with unspoken anger. 

Gaara can’t do this anymore. He’s in Lee’s personal space before he has time to think about it; before he has time to worry that their love is still too new, still too young. 

“You will not open that gate,” he says again, close to Lee and inching closer. “That’s an order.” 

He’s never given Lee a order and it burns coming up his throat.

Lee stiffens, staring down at Gaara with something flashing behind his eyes. Gaara has never seen Lee look properly angry because Lee always boxes it up, always keeps it hidden from him. 

“An order,” Lee repeats, the word like a curse. “And I should obey.” 

Gaara can’t move. Lee’s on the verge of something, on the verge of falling over into the roiling anger behind his eyes. Gaara just needs to push him and he’ll fall. He doesn’t want to. He can’t. He just wants Lee to love him. 

It burns the back of his throat, burns his esophagus, makes his eyes water. “I just want you to come back to me,” he says, his voice breaking. He can’t let Lee be mad. 

And the truth is, he can’t lose Lee.

He had never wanted to give Lee an order, he had never wanted to bring his rank into this. But Lee’s death is an unimaginable, unbearable pain. Missions may always come with risk, but the Eighth Gate is a sure death. 

The anger in Lee evaporates like rain water. It’s gone so quickly Gaara could almost think he’s imagined it, save for the closeness of their bodies and the tension still rippling between them. 

Lee places his hand against Gaara’s cheek, a soft, sad smile on his face. “I promise I will always come back to you.” 

Lee kisses him, and there’s still something bitter festering between them as Lee swallows his anger and Gaara swallows his fears. He kisses Lee back with a fervor born of the anguish and turmoil they kept side-stepping. He presses himself close, hands tight in Lee’s hair, his body on fire with need. 

“Promise me,” he says, demands, orders. 

“I promise,” Lee pants, hands burning holes through Gaara’s clothes. “I promise, I promise, I promise.” 

Gaara doesn’t forget Lee’s anger as they tumble into bed, he doesn’t forget his fears that they’re slowly killing their love at the root. Another time, another night. Now, he just wants Lee’s promises that he won’t die and to feel him close.


End file.
